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Adina Bar Shalom: Shas isn’t my father’s party anymore

Adina Bar-Shalom, the founder of the Haredi College in Jerusalem and the daughter of the revered late spiritual leader of the Shas party Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has decried the state of her father’s movement and of the religious establishment.

Yosef became the rabbinic guide of the Shas movement in the mid 1980s shortly after ending his tenure as Chief Rabbi of Israel. With his ability to reach out and connect with the Sephardi masses that were Shas’ electorate, his desire to revive Sephardi cultural pride, and his preference for moderation over conservatism in Jewish law, Yosef, with the charismatic Shas chairman Aryeh Deri along side him, made the party a powerful political force.